How to Bring the Old Siri Back to Your iPhone in iOS 27

You’d be forgiven if you thought the iOS 27 update, which Apple announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, only brought Siri AI to your device. WWDC was largely focused on the digital assistant, prompting some readers to reach out to me and ask what to do if they don’t want to leap into Siri AI. 

For the record, iOS 27 does bring more than just Siri AI, though a lot of the upgrades are under the hood. But the good news is that you don’t have to enable Siri AI on your device if you don’t want to.

The iOS 27 beta doesn’t automatically put Siri AI on your iPhone. You have to enable it, which involves signing up for a waitlist. So if you don’t want Siri AI but want to download the beta, there’s a path for that. I’ll walk through all the different scenarios: enabling Siri AI, disabling Siri AI and bringing back the old-fashioned Siri.

I recommend downloading on something other than your primary device. This isn’t the final version of iOS 27, so the update might be buggy or affect battery life, so it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

Enabling Siri AI in the iOS 27 beta

Once I updated to the iOS 27 beta, I had to sign up for the Siri AI waitlist even though I had already enabled Apple Intelligence on my device prior to the update. If you do want to use Siri AI, here’s how to join the waitlist.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Siri. 
3. Tap Try New Siri.

Then follow the onscreen prompts, and you’ll be enrolled in the waitlist. Your iPhone will notify you when you’ve been accepted, but be aware: That could be a few minutes, hours or longer. I waited a couple hours, but some folks on Reddit report waiting up to five days.

Once accepted, you can start using the new digital assistant, and you’ll get a new Siri AI app on your home screen.

Disable Siri AI in that iOS 27 beta

If you do get access to Siri AI and want to turn it back off, here’s how to do that.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Siri.
3. Tap Turn Off Siri near the bottom of the menu.
4. Tap Turn Off Siri again in the popup menu. 

The popup menu that appears right before you turn off Siri AI details all the features that will be limited or not functional if you go through with this change, including not being able to start conversations in Siri AI. 

While I understand Apple wanting to highlight the centerpiece of its new operating system, I don’t like the full-screen double confirmation for disabling Siri AI. I disabled a few other features, including Sensitive Content Warnings, to see if a similar menu popped up and none did, and disabling or restricting Siri on older iOS versions opened a much smaller pop-up asking if you’re sure. I appreciate additional confirmations for irreversible decisions, like resetting a device, but the full-screen confirmation felt more like an unnecessary guilt trip.

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Luckily, you’re not stuck between using Siri AI and not using Siri at all. There’s a third option that lets you use the old version of Siri, minus the AI. Here’s how to enable it.

Bring old Siri back to your iPhone in the iOS 27 beta

Once you’ve gained access to Siri AI, there’s only one way I’m aware of that allows you to gain access to the pre-iOS 27 Siri without resetting your device to a previous backup. First, you have to turn Siri AI off, following the above steps. From there:

1. Tap Settings. 
2. Tap Siri.
3. Tap Turn On Siri.
4. Tap Use Previous Version.
5. Tap Continue.

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Now Siri will be just Siri and not Siri AI. If you want to enable Siri AI later — like after Apple hammers out some bugs and releases iOS 27 to the general public — you can do so by going to Settings > Siri > Try Siri AI (Beta). 

Remember, iOS 27 and Siri AI are still in beta, so Apple has plenty of time to change or improve the software before the company releases it in the fall. Based on past releases, I expect Apple to release the software around mid-September.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 27 and everything to know about iOS 26.

Zachary McAuliffe

Senior writer

Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him hanging out with his wife, son and dog in their home.

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